First published 2017
German business titans file into a meeting room, ready to pledge their support to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime that promises them prosperity. Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg sits across from Hitler, slowly realizing he has walked into a carefully orchestrated trap as the Führer delivers his ultimatum for Austria's annexation. In London, Winston Churchill accompanies Neville Chamberlain to a farewell luncheon honoring Joachim von Ribbentrop, the German Ambassador who will soon become Foreign Minister and later face judgment at Nuremberg. These pivotal encounters between European powers reveal the machinery of failed diplomacy and fractured alliances. Each meeting pushes the continent closer to catastrophe as powerful men make decisions that will plunge the world into war. Vuillard captures the tragic momentum of these final moments before conflict, showing how personal ambitions and political calculations sealed Europe's fate.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, war, political-thriller
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, historical-fiction
Setting: Germany, Austria, London
Period: 1930s
160 pages · Paperback · Actes Sud
Content warnings: war